Trump declares US in ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels

President Trump has declared that the United States is now at war with drug cartels deemed by the White House as terrorist groups, giving legal rationale to U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea last month, according to a confidential notice the administration sent to Congress this week.

Trump determined that the United States “is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” said the notice, sent to the national security congressional committees and obtained by The Hill.

“The President directed the Department of War to conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict,” the notice adds, referring to Trump’s new designation for the Defense Department. “The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations.” 

The New York Times was the first to report on the notice, which comes after the Pentagon conducted three military strikes on boats Trump has claimed were carrying drugs bound for the United States. The attacks killed all 17 people aboard the vessels, with the administration insisting they were lawful despite no public proof that the boats contained drugs.